Choosing Joy when Mondays are Just Hard

A load of laundry is going in the washing machine, I've already gotten a work out in this morning, my baby is taking his early morning nap, and my coffee is in my hand. Yes, this is a good way to start out a day. The week has gotten much better since Monday, which was just one of "those" days. Not every day starts out with me calmly sitting in my favorite seat with coffee and knitting or blogging... Take Monday for example. Monday offered many many instances where I just had to stop and remind my self to chose to be happy, to chose patience, to chose to be calm. It wasn't anything big, but more one small thing on top of another small thing. Like my baby sleeping amazing, but me having a restless night (something about dreaming of a shark attack...) for no particular reason. Which means that blurred zombie walk (you know the one) to the coffee pot in the morning while my husband and I try to go through the motions of breakfast and getting him out the door for work. The day before I had finished the last of our dish soap, so there were the dishes from the past 24 hours sitting in the sink. Waiting. With no dish soap. Which meant grocery shopping had to come first this Monday, which meant making a meal plan and a grocery list. More coffee. Take a deep breath, feed the baby, put him down for his early morning nap, coffee, meal plan, coffee, grocery list, coffee. Baby is up, time to run to Aldi. Choosing patience and joy... not the easiest thing when you're exhausted and you're leaving the house with a sink full of dirty dishes. 

But grocery shopping first, then home, you can feed the baby again, put him down for his second morning nap, you can then do the dishes, put the groceries away, and sit and eat lunch. Everything will be alright again and you can relax this afternoon. 

Easier said then done. But we got through Aldi, then we got through picking up household items at Walmart, all while carrying a baby in one arm and pushing a cart that didn't want to go straight (you know the kind) with the other. Liam loves to shop. He loves to sit in the cart and look at all the people. But not today. Today he was extra sleepy and wanted me to hold him. By the time I had picked up everything, skipping grabbing shampoo, soap, shaving cream etc, Liam was asleep. Normally I like to wiz through the self checkouts instead of stand in line for 10 minutes, but there was no way I was going to accomplish that with a sleeping baby in one arm. So I stood in line. And I guess this was the week that kids are off of school. Walmart was busy. But I stood in line and I chose patience and I chose joy. 

Its all okay, you're almost done. Sure you didn't get any shampoo or body soap or shaving cream, but you did get dish soap. Everything will bo okay once those dishes are done. Hey, maybe we can all just take bubble baths for a week with dish soap.... haha, just kidding, we had enough shampoo to last the week ;) 

Thankfully I had been able to snatch a close parking spot, and I was back in the car in no time. Homeward bound. Of course Liam slept the 5 minute drive home and once there I was able to carry him right up to bed and deposit him there with his blanket and he stayed sleeping. Boom. Got the groceries carried in, put away, dishes washed, lunch made and eaten, talked to my husband on the phone during his lunch break, and got the kitchen cleaned. Ah sanity again. Finally, a chance to sit down and breath. And the baby wakes up. But I chose patience and I chose joy. And you know what? Liam and I had a lovely afternoon together. 

In other news I've been feeling rather ambitious lately. Between working on house decorating and landscape planning with Emil, I decided randomly that I wanted to make a quilt. So I did. I had a Hobby Lobby gift card from my birthday, and a basic pattern in mind. 

I had seen these fabrics at Hobby Lobby before, and absolutely loved them, but didn't know what I would ever do with them. Until now!

I pieced it together in one afternoon. It was pretty simply, just got all my squares lined up the way I wanted and ran them through the machine. Then I cut out the border and boom, finished. I purchase some backing and some batting and the next afternoon I got all the layers safety pinned together. Using safety pins was a trick I had seen my mom use, and I thought that it worked rather well. 

I've now got the squares all quilted, I just have to do the boarder... and then I need to bind it together and its finished! =) I think my quilting urge has been quenched. 

I've recently wanted to hang some pictures in Liam's nursery. But I wanted to be creative and artsy... So I purchased some little pieces of wood and painted them a minty teal color and then Modge Modged the pictures on. 

The Modge Podge dried clear and they were ready to hang! I also had bought a frame from Goodwill the other day and painted it white and then also chalk painted the glass. Now Liam and I have a good reminder above his changing table in his nursery. The picture is a screen shot from instagram... I didn't have a better one taken yet on my camera. 

I've been kind of addicted to chalk paint recently... 

This was another frame that I got from Goodwill. I chalk painted it and cured it, and now its ready for use! 

Curing the chalk paint is very important if you want it to last and not rub off after just one use. 

Now I've got a cute little way to keep track of the little things for the grocery list! 

And a good reminder hanging in my living room. A quote from one of my favorite hymns. 

Liam continues to grow and learn. He has become a master splasher in his little bath tub. He also is getting SO close with his crawling. 

I've been taking him outside once a day this week. He enjoys looking around and when the wind blows he gets this big grin and loves to watch the leaves blow and rustle. He also loves playing with the grass. 

The Bandy eyebrow.... Pretty sure I've seen this expression on his Daddy... Mostly when I'm talking and making no sense. ;)